Red Tulips Mean I Love You
by AkiSutaHatter
Summary: Aaron and Danni run a florists in a quiet part of Leeds, and most days are the same: work all day, play video games with their friends at night. But things begin to change when a tattoo parlour moves in next door, and Aaron is captivated by the blue-haired girl who works there... Holleni/Ranni Florist/Tattoo Artist AU (T for swears)
1. Daffodil

**Red Tulips Mean I Love You**

 **A/N: So, a new multichapter fic begins! As usual, I will warn you that this will not be updated at all regularly, but hopefully this will work out better than other… discontinued fics. Anywho, this idea came from tumblr - credit to whoever originally thought of it, I've no idea who. It seems like pretty much every fandom has one of these fics, but not the Crewdom (to my knowledge), so why not write one? Holleni and Ranni will be the main ships in this (Ranni is pre-established, Holleni will be a slow build because why not) but if people want other ships they might be included. Also, if people would like cameos as customers let me know and I'll try and add you in (though I've never done anything like that before, so don't be too upset if it's only a sentence or two!) Anyway, with that long-ass exposition out of the way, lets get on with the story.**

 **Chapter One: Daffodil**

The bell above the door to "Poison Ivy" tinkled as Aaron pushed it open, greeting his co-owner and good friend Danni as he did so. When Josh, Aaron's best friend, had introduced Danni as his girlfriend two years earlier the pair had quickly realised their shared love of flora. 8 months and a lot of hard work later, the two had proudly opened their new florists. Specialising in unique arrangements themed around games, comics, and fantasy, they had been surprised by how great the demand for their services was, for everything from geeky Valentine's day gifts to eccentric weddings. But, hey, they weren't complaining - their little shop was doing well.

"Morning Aaron! Did you hear the news?" Danni greeted, looking up from the order sheet that had come with that morning's delivery.

"Hear what news?" replied Aaron as he pushed his backpack under the front desk and started putting away the new fresh flowers.

"There's a new shop moving in next door, where that old bookshop used to be. Apparently they're opening on Friday."

"What sort of shop?"

"A tattoo parlour, from the looks of the equipment they were moving in last night."

Aaron nodded, sorting the flowers into their designated places in the storeroom to be arranged into their requested bouquets later. "So probably not going to be sending much traffic our way, then."

Danni shrugged. "We're doing alright without it. You never know, maybe there's lots of people that want both tattoos and flowers."

The pair worked quietly for another half an hour until the time came to open their doors at 8:30am. There was often a comfortable silence in the store - that is, until Josh came in on his lunch break and caused a ruckus.

As Aaron flipped the sign on the door from 'closed' to 'open', he noticed that Danni had changed the floral displays in the window. "I like the new Halloween display," he noted, and his friend grinned.

The blue haired man took in the delicate arrangement of cosmos, daylily, chocolate cosmos, and orange milkweed into two large vases, proudly displaying her skill. "It needs a little something else though…" he trailed off, slipping into the storeroom to grab some poppies and add them to both vases.

"Ooh, edgy." Danni teased. Aaron rolled his eyes and returned her smile.

"That's why we work together, I bring the edge."

Most of the day passed like any other Tuesday; they worked the morning away fulfilling orders they had been given, taking in new ones from drop-in customers, and selling their basic bouquets of flowers that they had on display in their shop. They had a quiet laugh about a young man who'd rushed in, bought some roses, and quickly departed - clearly someone had forgotten an anniversary. At 12:17 on the dot, as always, Josh waltzed in. He presented Danni with the lunch that he'd brought for the two of them that day, on the way over from his job at a local indie games development company. Aaron took the opportunity to head out to pick up some more Halloween-y decorations for the window display.

The weather was surprisingly warm for October, with just a light breeze chilling the day. He hoped the weather would continue, but reports that it would only get worse from here on didn't fill him with confidence. Turning to walk towards Tescos, he noticed someone on a ladder outside the building next door, replacing the old sign declaring the shop to be "Fullman's Second-Hand Books" with a new one; black, decorated with roses and cursive writing spelling out the name of the parlour - "Eternal Inks". Cheesy, but classy, he thought. As he walked past, the person on the ladder lightly scampered down in front of him. From ground level, Aaron could see this person was a woman; fluffy blue hair framing a small, pixie-like face. A few inches shorter than him, but taller than most girls he knew. Shit, he was staring, wasn't he?

"Can I help you?" She offered him a small smile, eyes raking over his face. Her voice was strongly accented - German, from what he could tell.

"Oh, uh, I'm - um - from the florists." He stammered, mentally cursing himself. To his relief, the woman grinned instead of laughing at him.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Leni. I own this parlour with my friend Lily. What's your name?" Leni held out her hand, revealing wrists covered in leather bracelets and showing a peek of her sleeve tattoo.

"Aaron." He took her hand and shook it, trying not to stare at her face again. Instead, he took in her pierced ears and lip, her pale green eyes the colour of the gladiolus he'd been arranging just hours before.

"So, um, it was nice to meet you." Leni smiled, a light blush colouring her cheeks as she noticed him taking in her features. "I'm sure I'll see you soon."

As she finished speaking, a blonde woman in her mid-twenties poked her head round the door of the tattoo parlour. "Loulou, I need your help to get the chairs- oh, hi! I'm Lily." She stepped out from behind the door and waved to Aaron.

"I'm Aaron, I help run the florists next door." He waved back.

"Nice to meet you, but I really need Loulou to help fix one of our chairs. We'll be having a party to celebrate our opening on Friday, you should come." Lily grinned at him, dragging Leni back into the shop.

"Shall I bring the other florist?" The blue-haired man asked quickly before the pair disappeared.

"Yeah! We're going to be neighbours for a while, so we should get to know each other." Leni smiled, and then the door closed and they were gone.

Aaron wandered further into town, stopping at the supermarket to grab some lunch as well as the decorations. He found pumpkin buckets, cobwebs, a witch's hat, and a small cauldron. Throwing a fun-size bag of sweets into his basket alongside the decorations, he checked out his items and headed back to the shop in time to see Josh give Danni a kiss goodbye and head back towards his job.

"Hey man, are we still on for game night tonight?" Aaron asked.

"You know it!" Josh patted his arm as he walked past. "Bring alcohol."

Aaron laughed and walked back into the florist. Danni came over to give him a hand with organising the decorations in the window, placing the cobwebs in the corners and the hat on top of the cauldron. They put one of the pumpkin buckets on the counter and filled it with sweets, smiling every time a child came in with a parent and took one. By the end of the day, when the fresher flowers had been put in refrigeration, there were only a few chocolates at the bottom of the bucket.

"I'll pick some more up tomorrow morning." Danni said, swinging her bag over her shoulder. "When are you coming tonight?"

"Probably around nine, I need to finish up the new wedding order sheet." Aaron slipped into his jacket and left with Danni, locking the door and handing her the keys. "I'll see you and Josh in a bit." He waved goodbye and headed off to catch his bus, while Danni walked back to her flat.

All day, Aaron hadn't been able to get the cute tattoo artist out of his head. She seemed like she'd be fun to work next to, though he couldn't say he wasn't hoping they'd get to know each other a little better than just professionally. He sat on the bus, laptop perched on his knee, tapping away at the Excel spreadsheet, his mind wandering to the party on Friday. Would there be alcohol? Should he _bring_ alcohol? Why were social norms so fucking complicated. He sighed and shut the computer, stepping off the bus and thanking the driver before returning to his small apartment. It wasn't much, just a bedroom with a small en-suite bathroom, a kitchen, and a living room, but it was home. To be honest, he spent so much time at the shop he barely saw this place any more, and when he was home his time was mostly spent marathoning video games at his computer.

Video games. Shit. He was gonna be late to Josh's.

Aaron grabbed a few bottles of beer from a kitchen cupboard and bolted to the bus stop, getting the same bus he'd just got off but in the opposite direction. When he arrived, Gubiak and Juke were already there, taking turns swigging from a bottle of straight vodka.

"Hey, we've already started Smash Bros." Josh called from the sofa, his chin resting on Danni's shoulder.

"Without me? I'm insulted."

"Yeah, we collectively decided that you suck." Juke grinned, passing Aaron one of the bottles of beer from the floor next to him.

"You guys are the worst." Aaron took the beer, settling down on the sofa next to Josh and Danni.

An hour later and Callum and Evanz arrived to join the party, their excuse for their lateness being that they got caught up with practicing DotA with their e-sports team, which prompted everyone in the room to tell them what, quote, 'fucking nerds' they were.

"So Danni, we've been invited to the shop-warming party that the tattoo parlour is having on Friday." Aaron said, his Wii remote balancing on his lap as he watched Josh and Gubiak's characters pummelling the shit out of each other on screen.

"Shall we go?" Danni asked from her position on Josh's lap.

"I was thinking we should go for at least a while, meet the people we'll be next door to."

"This wouldn't be anything to do with the cute blue-haired girl who works there, would it?" Josh teased. Aaron glared at him, and the shorted man poked out his tongue. "I saw her through the window when I walked past, she looks like your type."

"Shut up, asshole." Aaron grumbled, nudging his arm and causing Josh's character to go flying off the screen. Gubiak's win screen appeared, and he cheered before downing the vodka that was left in the bottle.

"You made me lose!" Josh whined, dropping his controller into Danni's lap.

"Your lack of skill at Smash Bros made you lose." Evanz teased.

"So, Aaron, you need a wing man?" Callum asked, turning to him with a mischievous grin. Aaron rolled his eyes, handing his controller to Juke so he could play a round.

This was how they passed most of their time, playing video games late into the night. It was gone two o'clock in the morning when Aaron finally stumbled back into his flat, slightly buzzing from the beer and good company. He changed into his pyjamas, crawled into bed, and immediately fell asleep.

 **Flowers mentioned in this chapter, and why I picked them:**

 **Cosmos -** a bright orange flower, obvious for Halloween

 **Daylily -** also orange, and really pretty

 **Chocolate cosmos -** black, and goes with the orange ones

 **Orange milkweed -** Orange, and also means deceit, like dressing up for Halloween

 **Poppies -** meaning imagination and oblivion, both quite appropriate for Halloween

 **Green Gladiolus -** green like Leni's eyes, also meaning strength of character and love at first sight


	2. Apple Blossoms

**Red Tulips Mean I Love You**

 **A/N: ….. Shut up. I know, it's been months. Hope this is worth it. Enjoy! 3 (Also the last chapter has been edited, and Fluke is Lily for the purposes of this story)**

 **Chapter Two: Apple Blossoms**

The rest of the week passed as usual, in the comfortable routine that Danni and Aaron had fallen into. Daily visits from Josh, wedding and funeral arrangements, and maintenance. The pair were happy at their work, as neither was shouldered with too much of the burden - they split the running of the business side of the shop evenly and each worked on an equal number of orders. While Danni did most of the front-of-house work, Aaron sat in the back room and made sure that the flowers were in peak condition, plucking off dead heads and making sure all their produce had plenty of water.

When Friday rolled around, Aaron had still not spoken to Leni again. Ok, if he was honest, he was a little nervous. He wanted to get to know her better - all he knew so far was that she was a tattoo artist and had blue hair. Oh, and that she was incredibly attractive. As if on queue, the bell over the florist's door rang as Leni pushed it open, blowing on her hands in an attempt to warm them up. The weather had turned chilly in the past few days, and bundling up in coats and scarves was starting to make it feel like winter was really on it's way.

"Hi Aaron!" Leni smiled, waving to him. He returned her smile, and Danni poked her head out from the stockroom where she'd been noting the supplies that they needed for the next day's order.

"Hey Leni, this is Danni." Aaron gestured to his friend, who waved and said a quick 'hello' before disappearing back to her work.

"So, are you both coming tonight? Quite a few people have told us they can't make it, so it'll be pretty quiet. We've got plenty of drinks." Leni's smile turned into a grin. Aaron noted that despite the cold, her sleeves were rolled up revealing her beautifully tattooed forearms. He spotted a delicate black butterfly, and a pair of scissors, before he realised that it was a little rude to stare so obviously. Looking up, he saw that she was grinning at him, nonplussed.

"Oh, uh, yeah, we'd love to come," Aaron stammered, "Um, uh, what time are you starting?"

"Around 7. I guess I'll see you there." She gave him a small wave then left the shop, the bell tinkling to mark her departure.

"Smooth." Danni's voice came from the back room and Aaron dropped his head to the desk with a groan.

"Shut up." He mumbled into the wooden surface, Danni's bubbly laughter making him feel even more embarrassed.

A few hours later, and Josh had turned up for their daily lunchtime visit. "So, Leni - the cute tattoo artist - dropped by earlier." Danni said, as the three of them ate. Josh looked up, a mouthful of sandwich and a deer-in-the-headlights look.

"And?" He asked, swallowing.

"And Aaron apparently can't talk around her." Danni teased, earning her a glare from said man.

"Shut up! She's just cute, ok? I don't even know her... yet." He mumbled, rubbing his stubble-covered cheek. Danni giggled and Josh grinned at him.

"Aw, Aaron's got a crush. Don't worry man, as long as you don't scare her off with how weird you are, you'll be fine."

"You're an asshole, you know that?"

They closed up shop at 6pm as usual, each heading back to their respective homes to get ready for the party. Aaron wasn't entirely sure what was appropriate, since it didn't seem like it would be a particularly formal affair. He eventually decided on a dark blue button down, a pair of jeans, and Converse trainers. He attempted to tame his hair a little, before giving up in favour of shaving. Aaron stopped by the shop before entering the tattoo parlour, picking up the bouquet he and Danni had decided on earlier. A small, neat arrangement of apple blossoms, purple crocuses, and mini pineapples, tied with a black ribbon. As he entered the tattoo parlour, he noted that Danni was already there and talking to Leni's coworker - Lily, that was her name. Danni waved him over, a bottle in hand.

The parlour was fairly dark, but Aaron could make out artwork on the white-painted walls. It looked clean and presentable, but with a hint of the stereotypically punk image that tattoo parlours portrayed. Swirling black patterns were etched onto the walls around the doors which he assumed led to rooms where clients would have their art drawn on their skin. The entire place smelled faintly of cleaning fluid, furniture polish, and disinfectant, with a hint of lavender. The desk where the till rested was covered with ring-bound folders which he assumed contained designs to choose from - he wondered briefly if Leni had designed them.

"Aaron, have you met Lily? She's the co-owner." Danni smiled, gesturing to the blonde woman. He'd only caught a glimpse of her the other day, and now could see that she was around the same height as Leni, with a curvaceous figure complimented by a black and red polka-dot skirt and tight-fitting black shirt. Her hair was styled in what Danni later told him were victory curls, and she beamed up at the taller man.  
"Hey, Aaron. I can see what Leni meant when she said you were cute." Lily's smile turned to a grin at the faint blush that appeared on Aaron's cheeks at that comment, but continued her conversation with Danni.

"But yeah, LouLou and I have been friends for years. We had a smaller parlour a few miles from here, but we started to get really popular and needed space for more chairs and more artists, so we upgraded to this place." Lily was explaining, though Aaron was only half-listening as he scanned the room for Leni. He spotted her over by the drinks table, pouring herself a vodka and orange juice, so he moved over towards her. She looked up as he approached, a Cheshire-cat grin spreading across her face.

"Hey Aaron! Glad you could make it." She gave him a quick hug, and Aaron awkwardly returned it.

Across the room, Lily spotted this and raised an eyebrow.

"What is it?" Danni asked.

"LouLou doesn't like hugs." Lily explained, a smile curling at the corner of her lips. "So it's just interesting."

Aaron handed Leni the bouquet. "To celebrate your opening." he explained. She grinned, her eyes shining.

"Look at the tiny pineapple! I'm going to put these in a vase, I'll be right back! Go talk to Lily, I'm sure she'd love to meet you." And with that, Leni dashed off into a back room. Aaron wandered over to where Danni and Lily were still chatting, noting the tattoo that was clear on Lily's back - a snow leopard stretched across her shoulder blades, caught mid-run. As he rejoined the women in their conversation, he looked down at Lily's arms. She had fewer tattoos than Leni, but they were just as exquisite. The words 'L'appel du vide' in soft cursive flowed down Lily's forearm, and a skull with roses in the eye-sockets adorned her other shoulder.

Lily noted his interest and grinned. "Most of them were done by Leni. She's pretty amazing, isn't she?"

Aaron simply nodded - was everything about this girl perfect? Maybe he should get a tattoo…

He was snapped out of his daze by Leni returning, slinging an arm around Lily's neck. "I hope she's not being weird as usual." Leni teased, poking Lily in the side and earning an indignant scoff.

"I'm being perfectly polite, thank you very much." The shorter woman poked her tongue out at her friend before turning back to Danni and Aaron. "I sometimes worry about the fact that I've been friends with her for six years."

Leni jabbed Lily with her elbow. "You love me really."

Through the course of that night, Aaron realised that the more he learned about the pair, the more he enjoyed their company and the more he fell for the cute blue-haired girl. He discovered that the two lived together, and had for a few years at this point. Apparently most of their evenings they played games and watched nerdy movies together, relaxing in each other's company. Sometimes Lily dragged them out to a bar with some other friends, but mostly the two worked and lived in comfortable introversion. Aaron could get behind that.

It was almost 2 o'clock in the morning before Aaron and Danni waved goodbye to their new friends and headed for their homes. As he stepped out through the door, Aaron let out a heavy sigh and sagged forward. This girl was going to be the death of him. As if on queue, Leni pushed through the door and bumped straight into Aaron's back.

"Ah, I hoped you'd still be here! I forgot to give you my phone number." She grinned, holding out her phone. Aaron fumbled in his pocket for his own mobile, handing it to her. He quickly tapped his number and name into her phone, and she did likewise.

"So, I'll see you around?" Aaron asked, trying to sound cool and relaxed and not as if he was desperately hoping she would want to hang around with him some more.

"Of course." Leni grinned. "We're neighbours now, remember?" And with that, she disappeared back into her shop.

Yup, definitely going to be the death of him.

 **Flowers mentioned in this chapter:**

Apple blossoms - good fortune

Crocuses - happiness

Mini pineapple - welcome

 **Tattoos EXPLAINED:**

 **Leni:** Butterflies - meant to look like the design on Johnny 3 Tear's mask (from Hollywood Undead). This Leni's first tattoo, done by Lily.

Scissors - reference to Leni's hairdressing job

 **Lily:** Snow Leopard - Fluke's favourite animal

'L'appel du vide' - 'The Call of the Void' - a tattoo Fluke has mentioned wanting before

Skull - it looks pretty idk


End file.
